Money race: Kasich far ahead, but FitzGerald says ‘it’s early.’

With a nearly 6-to-1 fundraising edge over his Democratic challenger, Ohio Gov. John Kasich has set himself up for more of the same: expensive, extensive campaign ads that tell exactly the cohesive story he wants voters to hear.

No matter, says challenger Ed FitzGerald, the elected executive in Cuyahoga County.

Despite a massive fundraising gap, the Democrat said his campaign will have enough money to get its message out before the Nov. 4 election.

“It may not seem like it’s early, but it is,” FitzGerald told reporters Wednesday after a fundraiser at Rhinegeist Brewery in Over-the-Rhine.

He also accepted $630,000 from the Ohio Republican Party, which paid expenses such as salary for his campaign staff.

FitzGerald spent $574,000 and has $1.5 million on hand, after raising $642,000 this winter and spring. He also received $20,000 in donations such as food or space for campaign events.

Kasich has complained that voters in 2010 failed to grasp his working-class background and instead associated him too much with his stint as a managing director at Lehman Bros. His cash advantage has allowed him to reintroduce himself to voters, even after four years as their governor.

“In 2010, Ted Strickland and national Democrats spent a lot of money telling people who they thought John Kasich is. This is the opportunity to tell Ohioans about the John Kasich that Ted Strickland obviously didn’t tell them about four years ago,” said Chris Schrimpf, spokesman for the Ohio Republican Party. “You want to first introduce people to who John Kasich is and then that explains why he has focused so intently on jobs during his tenure.”

So far, FitzGerald’s smaller budget has limited him to a radio commercial in response, blaming Kasich for problems facing Ohio families and introducing himself as a corruption-fighter and job-creator.

FitzGerald said he has shot a TV commercial, but it hasn’t been produced yet.

Still, the Democratic challenger maintains he doesn’t need to run as many expensive commercials as Kasich does. He says many in Ohio don’t like Kasich, who only got 49 percent of the vote against then-Gov. Ted Strickland in 2010 and won by just 77,000 votes.

A Quinnipiac University poll in February gave Kasich a 43 percent to 38 percent lead over FitzGerald. The governor had a 42 percent favorability rating. ■